


Demons

by 0bviousLeigh



Series: Yuma is a Girl [20]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gender or Sex Swap, Other, Yuma accuses Gauche of being a pervert, and Mr. Heartland too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 07:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12360990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Yuma puts her arms around the boy and shuts her eyes. From behind her eyelids she can see a bright light, and she braces herself for a crash, but it never comes. Her ears start ringing, and she opens her eyes. The truck is now three inches from her face—or it would be, if not for the giant hole in it.





	Demons

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the rewrite of episode 40!

By the end of day two, Yuma is the only person with heart pieces left. She and Kotori buy snacks and meet up with Tokunosuke, Tetsuo, and Cathy in Heartland square. Tokunosuke gripes about how he could have gotten into the tournament by making fake heart pieces, and Yuma smacks him upside the back of the head for even entertaining the idea.

Yuma and Kotori bid goodbye to the other three after finishing their snacks. Kotori counts some caramel candies left over and puts them in her pocket.

“They’ll melt like that,” Yuma tells her.

“They’re the good kind,” Kotori says. “It’ll take a longer time for them to melt. Besides, I like them soft.”

“Better hope you never need braces,” Yuma teases, “Like Akari did. She was always breaking her brackets by eating marshmallows and caramels.”

“I’d rather deal with crooked teeth!” Kotori says.

As they approach a busy intersection, they hear a scream.

“What now?!” Yuma gasps, taking off at a run. She gets to the corner and sees a little boy walking in the street, against the light. “Oh, bloody hell!” Yuma screams. She dashes out in front of cars, horns blare all around her, and she snatches the little boy up and rushes him to the divider in the middle of the street.

Yuma kneels in front of the little boy, looking him over. He doesn’t appear hurt at all, thank the heavens. “Are you okay?” She asks.

The boy looks at her blankly. Is he in shock? She waves her hand in front of his face and he blinks slowly.

“Yuma,” Astral says, “I recognize this boy. He was in the picture with Kite.”

Yuma looks again at the child’s face. Oh, he does look like that little boy.

A horn goes off right in Yuma’s ear. She looks up—a truck is swerving to avoid a horrible driver, and it’s sliding right towards Yuma and the child.

Yuma puts her arms around the boy and shuts her eyes. From behind her eyelids she can see a bright light, and she braces herself for a crash, but it never comes. Her ears start ringing, and she opens her eyes. The truck is now three inches from her face—or it would be, if not for the giant hole in it.

Yuma picks the boy up and runs to the safety of the sidewalk. People are staring open-mouthed at the truck, and Yuma grabs Kotori by the wrist and pulls her along. They run a few blocks away before Yuma stops and puts the little boy down on the floor.

“Kid,” Yuma says, kneeling in front of him, “Are you Kite’s brother?”

The boy nods. His eyes move to where Astral floats behind Yuma’s shoulder. “Aren’t you cold?” He asks in a soft voice.

Yuma’s jaw drops.

“Can you see me?” Astral asks.

Kotori grabs Yuma’s arm. “Yuma, he just put a hole in that truck!”

“Oh, that was your doing?” Yuma asks the boy. “I thought it was me and Astral.”

“How can you see me?” Astral asks.

The boy blinks a few times. “I want my brother,” he says.

“I know your brother,” Yuma tells him. “I don’t know where he is right now, but I know Kite.”

“You do?” The boy asks.

Yuma smiles and nods. “I do. My name is Yuma, and I dueled Kite once. I don’t think he liked me very much, but he told me that he loves you and wants to help you. Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Hart,” the boy whispers.

“Hart, that’s such a pretty name,” Yuma says. “Well listen Hart, like I said I don’t know where your brother is and it’s too late to try to find him, so how about you come to my house and we see what we can do for you?”

Hart looks around. “I don’t know where I am,” he says.

“That’s okay,” Yuma tells him. “I’ll keep you safe. How does that sound?”

Hart looks up at Yuma, and her heart constricts. A little boy shouldn’t look so tired, but Kite did imply that he was sick.

“Are you hungry?” Yuma asks. Hart nods, and Yuma says, “My grandma is making dinner. Want to eat?” Hart nods again. “Okay,” Yuma says, “Come on.” She takes Hart’s hand and he walks willingly with her.

“Is this a good idea?” Kotori asks.

“Better than anything I can think of at the moment,” Yuma says.

 

“About time!” Akari yells as Yuma shuts the front door. “I was about to send the SWAT team after you! Where have you been?” Akari marches over and freezes when she sees Yuma helping Hart out of his shoes in the front hall. “Who is this?” She asks.

“Since you know Kotori I assume you mean him,” Yuma says as she takes Hart by the hand once again. “This is Hart,” she says, “He’s the little brother of a duelist I met in the WDC, but he’s lost and I don’t know how to find his brother right now, so he’s going to stay with us.”

Akari frowns. “Yuma, you can’t just bring children in off the street, the police are a thing for a reason.”

Hart whimpers and hides behind Yuma’s legs. Yuma scowls. “Oh, now you’ve scared him. Buzz off until you get your motherly instincts back.”

Akari sputters. Grandma looks around the corner and smiles. “Kotori, Yuma, you brought a friend! How lovely! Come in, everyone, let’s all get ready for dinner.”

Akari’s protests fade as Yuma leads Hart to the bathroom. “Let’s wash up,” she tells him. Hart’s movements are slow and almost robotic, as if he’s not present within his own body. Yuma wonders if he has an invisible disability, or if he’s like this because of medications. Either way, he’s unlike any child she’s ever seen.

Once Hart and Yuma have washed their hands, they go back to the kitchen. Kotori is helping grandma at the stove, Akari is chopping vegetables, and Lillybot is outside, barbecuing some fish. Yuma goes to the drawers where the utensils are, and hands them off to Hart.

“Here, hold these for me, please,” she says.

She takes plates and bowls from the cabinet and leads Hart to the table. She shows Hart where to put the chopsticks and spoons once she’s set the plates and bowls on the table. As she goes back and forth for cups and serving dishes, Hart follows her like a little shadow, silent and wide-eyed.

When dinner is ready, Hart sits between Yuma and Kotori. Yuma puts food in front of him, but Hart merely stares at it. Yuma feeds herself, watching Hart to see what he does. Across the table, Astral mimes eating with chopsticks. Hart watches intently, then he picks up his own utensils and starts to eat. After a few hesitant bites, something seems to click.

“Good job,” Yuma praises, stroking Hart’s hair as he eats some vegetables.

“What a good little eater!” Grandma coos. “Now then, how was everyone’s day?”

Kotori tells Akari and Grandma about the blimp incident. Yuma scoops more rice into Hart’s bowl. “Eat as much as you want,” she encourages. He’s such a thin little thing. Yuma takes her phone out and takes a picture of Hart eating. He looks up when he hears the shutter click. Yuma grins at him.

“Wanna take a sel-ca?” She asks.

“Yuma, no phones at the table,” Akari says.

“Oh, leave her alone,” Grandma says, swatting Akari’s arm.

“What’s a sel-ca?” Hart asks.

Yuma turns her camera around to the front one. “Like this,” she says, leaning into Hart and showing him the screen. He blinks at the image of himself. “Because you take a picture of yourself with the camera,” she says. “Self-camera, sel-ca. Smile!”

Hart’s lips twitch. Yuma snaps a photo. Kotori dashes in behind the two of them and gives them both bunny ears. Yuma giggles and Hart actually smiles like he means it.

“Perfect,” Yuma says, “I’ll send this one to your brother.”

“Can we take more pictures?” Hart asks.

“Of course,” Yuma says. “Once you eat, we can take lots of pictures.”

When everyone has finished eating, clean up begins. Yuma gives Hart her phone and shows him how to change which camera is used, and how to take pictures. Hart follows her, snapping away. He takes pictures of Kotori, Akari, grandma, and Lillybot as they put away leftovers and wash dishes, and he takes pictures of himself. When cleanup is finished, everyone sits down to watch TV—Labyrinth, naturally. Hart stops taking pictures and stares, mesmerized, at the TV. Yuma sings ‘Magic Dance’ to him, and she recites the end of the movie word-for-word, staring into Hart’s eyes the whole time.

Upon the movie’s end, Hart starts rubbing his eyes and yawning, so Yuma asks him if he wants to lay down. He nods, and Yuma carries him upstairs. She finds a large t-shirt that he can wear and an extra toothbrush, and she sends him into the bathroom to change and clean up. She keeps her ear pressed to the bathroom door in case he needs help or falls over, but Hart seems to be doing just fine. Kotori comes upstairs just as Hart walks out of the bathroom.

Yuma leads Hart into her room and lifts him on to her bed. He stares at her, and she asks, “Do you want me to stay with you?”

Hart nods, and Yuma sits on her bed and puts her pillow in her lap. Hart lays down and Yuma throws a blanket over him, and she plays with his hair until he falls asleep, which takes an astounding twenty seconds.

“Poor little thing,” Yuma says quietly. “I’ve never seen such a young waif.”

“What’s a waif?” Kotori asks.

“A creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from its original surroundings. The most common usage is to designate a homeless, forsaken or orphaned child, or someone whose appearance is evocative of the same,” Yuma parrots, almost word-for-word from the dictionary. “Red used it all the time.”

“You think he’s an orphan?” Kotori gasps.

“I doubt any parent would willingly leave someone so young in the hands of a moody teenager like Kite,” Yuma says. “I think they’re both orphans. Don’t you think Hart seems neglected? I’ve never seen a kid act like he does. And he was so hungry. I wonder if Kite got hurt trying to stop the blimp.” She bites her lip. “Maybe I should have called the police,” she says.

“You still could,” Kotori says. “After all, if you face Kite again, you might have to duel him. What would happen then?”

Yuma sighs. “I wonder. Maybe it would be different if I was returning his brother to him.”

Hart whimpers in his sleep, and Yuma rubs his arm. “Shh, it’s okay,” she says. “I’ve got you.”

Kotori takes her phone out. She looks at it for a few minutes, then puts it aside. “The hole in the truck is all over the news, but no one is talking about a missing child or anyone who looks like Kite, so I can only assume that Kite isn’t hurt and if someone is missing Hart, they aren’t using the media to find him.”

The two are quiet for a while. Yuma takes out her phone and goes through the pictures that Hart took. Most of them are blurry, but a few are really nice, artsy even.

After about half an hour, Hart suddenly opens his eyes and shoots up. “I want my brother,” he gasps, hugging himself and rocking back and forth. “I want my brother.”

Yuma hastily pulls Hart against her chest. “Deep breaths,” she says firmly. “You have to wait. We don’t know where Kite is.”

“I know,” Hart whispers. “I know where to go. I need to go.”

“You need to go?” Yuma asks.

Hart looks at her with desperate eyes. “I need to take care of my brother.”

Maybe Yuma got it wrong. Maybe Kite is the one who’s sick and needs help. “Okay,” Yuma says, making a split-second decision. “You show me where he is, I’ll take you there.”

“Is that a good idea?” Kotori asks.

Yuma is already helping Hart get dressed. “He wants his brother,” she says. Before she leaves, she runs to the attic and grabs her bag of tricks, as well as a little something she got from Tokunosuke earlier. If Hart takes off, she needs to be able to find him, after all.

 

* * *

 

But getting Hart to his brother is not easy. For some reason the WDC referees are after Hart, and he does Not Want to go with them after they mention Heartland. Yuma and Kotori end up running Hart through the backstreets and alleys of the city, with Hart pointing to the wind farm as the place he needs to go to meet Kite. Kotori whimpers that it’s a bad idea, but Yuma knows Hart needs to see for himself if his brother is or is not there. So she, Hart, and Kotori break into the wind farm, climb to the top of an observation tower, and get out on the roof.

Hart paces across the roof. “It’s not here,” he whispers, wringing his hands. “But I need it, I need it for Kite!”

“What do you need?” Yuma asks.

Hart’s eyes glow red. He opens his mouth and screams, and the red light from his eyes expands to form a sphere around Hart’s body.

“Oh, this is not a normal tantrum!” Yuma cries.

Astral flies through the red light, ignoring Yuma’s shriek for him not to, and places his hand on Hart’s head. Kotori grabs Yuma’s arm, as if holding her back. After a moment, Astral flies backwards.

“Yuma!” Astral yells, “Hart is looking for something called caramel!”

Caramel? Wait a minute! “Kotori! Hart wants a caramel!”

Kotori pats her pockets and takes out a caramel with a triumphant shout. She hands it to Yuma, and Yuma backs up a few steps, yells “KATTOBINGU!” And charges at Hart. She busts through the wall of red light, wraps her arms around Hart, and knocks him aside. She twists so that she lands on her back and Hart is safe on top of her. The light fades and Hart looks confused. Yuma holds out the caramel.

“Here,” she says, trying to keep her tone light even though she’s scared, “Is this okay?”

Hart sits up and gingerly takes the caramel. “Nii-sama gave this to me,” he says quietly, “I felt sad, but it made me feel better. Nii-sama is sad, and sick.” Hart smiles at Yuma. “Caramel is magic. It makes you feel better, no matter what.”

Yuma feels like she could cry. Kotori kneels next to Hart, and they both give him a hug.

But the moment of peace is short lived as the whirr of helicopter blades breaks through the silence. Yuma and Kotori cling to Hart as a chopper lands on the roof. Yuma expects to see the referees, but instead a man with hair down to his shins exits the plane. Yuma presses Hart’s face to her neck, momentarily terrified that the man’s hair will get caught in the spinning blades and his head will be ripped off.

“Hart,” the man calls, “Let’s go.”

Hart squirms, but Yuma holds fast to him. “Up yours!” She yells, “Hart wants to go to his brother!”

The man looks down at Yuma. “Then it’s a good thing that I am a friend of the Tenjo family,” he says. “Hart, don’t you remember me? It’s time to go.”

“Chris,” Hart says, twisting out of Yuma’s arms. He runs to the man, who scoops him up.

“Ready to go?” Chris asks.

Hart nods and turns to Yuma. “I’m sorry,” he says. “But my mission is to destroy Astral world. I need more screams.”

Yuma gapes at Hart. He needs…screams?

“Just what is going on?” Astral asks, horrified.

Chris takes Hart into his helicopter, one with a Heartland symbol on it. Yuma watches the chopper retreat, standing on the roof in total shock—until another chopper suddenly swoops overhead and one of the Heartland referees comes dropping out of it.

“You!” The man yells, pointing at Yuma, “Where is the boy?” The man grabs Yuma’s arm, and Yuma snaps. She does what she does best—she screams.

“HELP, HELP!” Yuma screeches, thrashing and kicking, “PERVERT! I’M BEING ASSAULTED! KOTORI CALL THE POLICE!”

The man lets go of Yuma, shaking his hand as if he’s been burned. The lady referee drops down beside the man.

“Shut up,” she snaps, “As referees we can have you kicked out of the Carnival for this behavior.”

“DO IT THEN!” Yuma cries. She points at the man. “We’re not on Carnival grounds or in a Carnival duel so that’s abuse of power! I’ll see both of you in court! He attacked me and Kotori saw it!”

Kotori shrieks into her phone, “A strange man grabbed my friend and tried to yank her off! He looked like a pervert!”

“I am not a pervert!” The man yells frantically.

“You act like one!” Yuma and Kotori yell.

“Everyone be quiet!” Kite’s voice roars. A second later, he drops down on the roof.

“Thank god,” Yuma gasps. She runs to Kite and throws her arms around his neck. Kite stumbles and his robot shrieks for Yuma to unhand its master, but Yuma hangs on to Kite. “Someone named Chris took Hart,” she whispers. “Hart wanted to go with him.”

Kite puts his hands on Yuma’s shoulders and pushes her back. “Leave us,” he tells the referees, “Yuma and I have to talk.”

“I don’t take orders from you!” The man says.

Kite gives him a scathing look. “No, you’re just good for pushing little girls around, right Gauche?”

The man, Gauche, makes a choking noise and takes off, the woman following. Yuma sighs and runs back to Kotori to hug her. “Way to go, girl,” She says, patting Kotori’s back. “I knew I could count on you.”

Kotori is shaking, but she smiles. “Just don’t ever scream ‘pervert’ again unless you really mean it.”

“God willing I won’t have to,” Yuma says.

“Where is Hart?!” Kite demands.

Yuma takes out her phone and opens her tracking app. “I told you, a guy names Chris said he would take Hart to you. Hart believed him and took off, but after I literally rescued Hart from the middle of the street and took him into my house, I was worried he would try to run away when we left to find you so I put a tracking device on him and look, he’s headed to the old museum!”

Kite tries to snatch Yuma’s phone, but she yanks her hand back and shoves her phone in her pocket. “No grabbing,” she snaps. “I’ll share with you as we go.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Kite snarls, “It’s my job to protect Hart and I don’t need your help to do it. Go home and get ready for me to steal your Numbers.”

He calls for the robot and starts to walk away. Yuma squeezes her hands into fists, and she races across the roof, grabs Kite’s shoulder and spins him around, and she punches him in the jaw. He’s shocked, and she gets another punch in before he can work up the reflexes to block her third blow.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Yuma screams at Kite as he squeezes her fist. She starts crying, not from pain, but from anger. “You think you’re the only one capable of caring for Hart?!”

“You don’t know anything about him!” Kite says.

“He ran away from you in the first place because he was worried about you!” Yuma shouts through her tears. “He wanted to get you caramel, because it’s magic and could make you feel better. He loves you so stinking much, you’re his whole world, and where were you when he needed you?” Yuma shoves Kite. She yanks her phone out of her pocket again and shows him the pictures Hart took. “Look! Look at him smile! He was with me! I showed him how to take pictures with a phone! I treated him like a normal little boy, he helped me set the table, he helped me clean up! I could tell he’d never done it before in his life! You sold your soul to the devil?! How dare you take Hart with you!”

“What was I supposed to do?!” Kite screams back. “He puts holes in things! He has a dangerous power! The Numbers are going to help him get better!”

“HOW?!” Yuma screeches. “How is that working out for you, huh? How are the Numbers going to help? Did you ask?! Maybe get a second opinion! Maybe don’t take him to the…the…” Yuma sobs openly. She shakes her head. She drops her phone and grabs Kite by the collar of his shirt. She shakes him weakly. “Why did you give him to Heartland?”

Kite grabs Yuma’s hands. He bows his head. “Heartland took him from me. I had no choice.”

“Lies!” Yuma screams. “You always have a choice! You’ve been making all the bad ones, maybe you should learn to ask for help, huh?”

“What can you do?” Kite demands. “You’re just a little girl!”

Yuma shakes herself free of Kite’s grasp. “I have Astral, you nitwit!” She shouts. “With him I’m even more powerful than your Galaxy Eyes! And in case you were wondering, the Numbers contain Astral’s memories! There’s no special power to them so how are they going to make Hart stop putting holes in things?!”

Kite blinks at Yuma. “M-memories?”

Yuma throws her hands up. “Lord help me for I am being tested. Let’s get a move on, I’ll explain things on the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Starting in the next part, we really begin to veer away from canon. Because canon Kite was too much of a jerk for me.
> 
> Also Yuma being really upset at Kite for bringing Hart to Mr. Heartland...we go over that in the next part, but I think you can kind of get what I'm going for. In any case, I'll bring it up now because of trigger warnings. I've seen a lot of fan-content about Mr. Heartland taking advantage of Kite in a sexual way, and having rewatched the series I can honestly say Mr. Heartland gives me the creeps and I can see why people went there. While Heartland does NOT have that kind of relationship with Kite in this series, I am making Heartland a pervert. For more information, PM me on my tumblr account (http://rainbow-galaxy-supernova.tumblr.com) and I'll fill you in.


End file.
